From the Swastika to the Stars and Stripes is based on factual events and the lives of real people. Any similarity between the fictitious names and those of living persons, of course, is entirely coincidental. It is appropriate to offer a few precautions, as justification perhaps but definitely not as apologia pro sua, for some of the more controversial sentiments expressed here. It is well to remember that impressive events were happening at an impressionable age. If personal notes and diaries, however terse, have any historical value at all, it is because, not having been created originally for publication, the writing is essentially spontaneous, outspoken, and hence honest. The accounts in From the Swastika to the Stars and Stripes would lose much of their effect were they to be doctored by post facto hindsight, let alone be expurgated, to protect either the author from possible embarrassment or to assuage people’s feelings.